Cyril Doussau de Bazignan, Director of Product Marketing, InfoVista
According to Cisco in their most recent Visual Networking Index Report — the number of Mobile Devices and Connections (such as M2M) is projected to increase by 40 percent over the next 4 years; totaling 10B by 2017! Within such a hyper-connected world, the rise in data subscribers presents a significant opportunity for Mobile Network Operators to stimulate additional revenue growth.
With increasing mobile data traffic requirements, operators are forced to invest in launching new services such as LTE and in upgrading their network infrastructure capacity. When you couple those heavy investments, with the dwindling average revenue per user (ARPU) predicted for most regions, we see a need for operators to establish new strategies to improve margins by either:
- Boosting revenues with differentiated mobile data services
- Reducing CAPEX by maximize their current infrastructure usage
- Reducing CHURN by improving customer quality of experience (QOE)
- Tackling increased network complexity with multi-vendor/multi technology network management solutions
It is estimated that approximately 80 percent of mobile operators' CAPEX is being spent on the backhaul and RAN infrastructure. By maximizing their existing networks capacity usage and improving operational efficiencies, operators can seize the opportunity for CAPEX and OPEX savings.
I recently sat down with Ari Banerjee, senior analyst at Heavy Reading, to discuss how the synergies between network planning and real-time network intelligence allow MNOs to realize the benefits of their network transformation and maximize their current investments . In our conversation we discuss why mobile operators need to adopt innovations like advanced Backhaul and RAN planning and how incorporating network intelligence into the planning process will help pave the road to self-optimizing networks (SON).
As usual, I am looking forward to discussing these passionate topics with you further.
